“Week 1″

• 5 reps – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x3x195
  • 1x5x215 (work)
  • 1x5x245
  • 1x8x280

• 5 Reps – Press (working max: 145#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x5x95 (work)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x8x125
• Asst. #1 – DB Rows (superset with Press warmup sets)
  • 3 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #2 – Hanging Leg Raises
  • 3 x 10/7/5 x BW
• Asst. #3 – Dips (superset with Leg Raises)
  • 3 x 4/3/3 x BW
• Asst. #4 – DB Hammer Curls
  • 3 x 8/8/6 x 35
• Foam Rolling

You know… I can still wonder if I’m getting enough volume, but I don’t need to wonder if I’m getting enough intensity. Yes, I felt pretty nauseous by the end of the workout. I attribute it to pushing hard, not just during the sets themselves, but also in between. There wasn’t much rest between sets, nor between exercises. So weights may not have gone up, but less rest and more push-push-push and sure enough the intensity of the overall workout was up.

I really do have to push things if I want to get done in time. So, all good I suppose. But the long-term will really decide how good and fruitful this approach is for me.

I am happy to have pushed a little further than last deadlift (my cycle 9-2 false start). And while my Press did the same as the prior Press, it felt easier.

I’m not thrilled that I only got a few dips per set, but I am making them full range (upper arms go parallel) plus I did them right after the pressing with maybe 45 seconds of rest? So I’ll cut myself some slack. I also wonder if it was just not being used to things, because by set 3 I actually felt like I could have done more, but I’m sore enough and will be sore enough. Ease into it… I’m not a young buck any more.

But I think I might like this 2 days a week thing.

Truth be told, I bought the Shield for 2 reasons. First, I bought it for teaching. At KR Training we see a lot of students with small and/or weak hands, and I wondered if this might help those people. So far, it’s panning out well in the area, and I’m pleased. I’ll continue to bring it to classes like our Basic Pistol 1 & 2 to let people shoot and use as a loaner, if they fall into that “small and/or weak hands” niche. Second, I bought it because I thought I might have personal need, but so far that need hasn’t panned out.

The thing is, if you’ve got a choice, why choose the lesser? The Shield (in 9mm) has 7 round and 8 round magazines… so at best you get 8+1, whereas a full-sized M&P gets me (in theory) 17+1. Why would I choose 8 if I could have more than twice that? Of course, context and situation dictates, but like I said, if you CAN choose the greater, why wouldn’t you? And so, I’ve been carrying my full-sized M&P because I can.

That said, I think in the interest of science I’d do well, especially as a service to students, to carry it a bit more and see how it pans out. Or the real way to read this? I bought a holster and mag pouch from Comp-Tac and they’ve been sitting on my desk untouched for a month, so I need to finally do something with them.

Of course, I’ll write about how things go. Stay tuned.

Cute for sure.

But it does point out why revolvers, specifically snubs, still have a place in our modern “plastic gun” world. I still say that snubs are not beginner guns, but they have a place.

Speaking of which… the KR Training crew had some discussions about BUG training (since most of us carry one, typically a snub), and on July 28, 2012 will be offering our first “Defensive Pistol Skills – BUG” course. If you carry a BUG — and if you don’t, why not? — it’d be a course worth taking.

What’s advocated? 2 day a week, and his suggestion is his “option 1″.

There we go.

Tho Jim’s article is pretty good because it does a good job of addressing needs of folks that travel. I’m thankful I don’t have to and haven’t had to travel much in my career, but whenever I did it was always difficult to deal with exercising. Jim’s got some good principles to follow here.

Aside:

In doing this I’ve been thinking how to adjust my goals for this year. There’s about 30 weeks left in the year. If this “2 days per week” program works out, that means a new cycle every 3 weeks, 10 cycles left. I figure another reset or maybe even 2 may have to happen before the year is over. So let’s say I might have only 6 true bumps in weight. Where does that put me? Well, for lower body that’d be maybe 60# and upper body maybe 30#.

If that holds true, it won’t put me where I want for Press. I’d like my working weight (the weight I use on my 5/3/1 week, last set) to be 185. With my current reset, that puts me 40# down. It’s possible I could make it. Even if I don’t, as long as I’ve made progress towards it, fine.

Now on bench, my reset weight is 205 (working max 215). So going up to 235 is again not where I wanted to be. I wanted to be at 250. But, at least bench pressing 2 wheels makes me happy.

Squat I could be ok with. I would like to squat (again, on my last 5/3/1 set) 315, or at a minimum breaking 300. This should be attainable, so long as I don’t mess up my back.

Deadlift going to 365 will be quite acceptable. I’d love to break 405, but even without the reset that’d still be a ways off.

But my longer-term goal is breaking the 1000# total (bench, squat, deadlift). And I don’t want to break it in terms of 1RM or other calculated maxes, but actually moving that. Given I don’t do 1RM work, it basically means taking the weights I use on my last 5/3/1 set and totaling them up. I figure a year from now I ought to be able to break that. It’s what I’d like to do.

We’ll see how well my new “busy man” schedule takes me towards those goals.

But once you manage that concrete retention, what do you do to apply those learned principles in your practice?

Claude Werner has a good article about how you should practice after training.

A general outline:

• Gather information
• Recreate incidents
• Prepare a practice plan
  • Drills
  • Scenarios
• Document your results and plan your next session

You must read the article for the full skinny, but I wanted to touch on a couple of points.

When it comes to drills, it is important to measure your skill. To measure, you must have a way to measure it and then a way to keep track of it. There are numerous ways to do this. You could pick up a book like Steve Anderson’s dry fire book. You could attend some of KR Training’s new Skill Builder courses. You could use the DR Performance Practice Deck for iOS (once the update with Scoring is released… soon, I promise!). Or just look at various handgun drills or handgun standards (3 Seconds or Less is good, or maybe your state’s CHL test). Get a timer. Get a log book. Shoot things that challenge you, and include coverage of skills you’re good at and skills you need work on (that’s more important). Shoot the drills and keep track of your progress so you know where you lie. As Claude wrote:

Test yourself on your baseline and measure your results. By setting a baseline and testing it each time, you get an idea of where you are in your state of training. As your skill progresses, you may find that you want to adjust your baseline, but without a baseline, you have no idea of where you are in your training. Many times people tell me that they’re “good with a pistol,” but when I ask them what that means, I get a vague response like “I can hit the target every time.” If you’re serious about personal defense, that’s not much of an answer.

But a bigger thing to take from Claude’s article isn’t just how to shoot drills, it’s how to apply those drills. Keep an eye on the crime that happens around you. Learn what you can, study it. The more you know, the better you can address the problem. Reading things like your local police blotter can be useful.

Class is a time to acquire new skills and information, but it’s up to you to utilize what you got from class after class is over.

“Week 1″

• 5 reps – Squat (working max: 260#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x105
  • 1x5x130
  • 1x3x160
  • 1x5x170 (work)
  • 1x5x195
  • 1x6x225 (ugh)
• Asst. #1 – Chin-ups (supersetted with Squats)
  • 6 x 4/3/3/3/3/2 x BW

• WORK – Bench Press (working max: WT#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x5x140 (work)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x10x185
• Asst. #2 – Back Raises (hands behind head, superset with Bench warmup sets)
  • 3 x 15/10/8 x BW
• Asst. #3 – DB Bench Press
  • 3 x 10 x 80/90/90
• Asst. #4 – Face Pulls (supersetted with DB bench)
  • 3 x 12 x 65
• Foam Rolling

Well… this was interesting.

First, if I don’t superset, this will take a LONG time. So superset it is. In fact, I didn’t intend to superset db press with face pulls, but I looked at the clock and opted to do it. But again, it’s not as much about time at the gym (tho that’s relevant) as it is the impact on my daily/morning/weekly schedule. That’s still to be determined.

I’m upset that I only did 6 reps on the squat, but I know why. I was light headed the entire workout. I’d get under the bar, take my deep breath in, and then my head felt all light and swimmy. Every set of every exercise felt this way. *sigh* So once I got to 6 my head just couldn’t do it… didn’t have the oxygen. That sucks. Heck, on the bench press I did risk not getting the 10×185 but damnit I just did that a few days ago and damned if I wasn’t going to at least meet it… and I barely did, thank you head.

I also didn’t know what some weights would be. On DB Bench I accidentally picked up the wrong weights (2 40′s instead of 2 45′s). I might be able to do 2 50′s, we’ll see. Certainly face pulls need the weight upped. Back raises… oof…. that was tougher than I expected. But when did 4 chins and maintained 3 through most of the rest of the sets, I was pretty happy with that!

I don’t feel as tired and “worked out” after this workout, likely due to the reduced volume. We’ll see how this fares for me over the long term.

The main reason? Time. With the new job and new schedule it brings to my life, it seems that it’s not so much duration of workout that’s the issue but frequency. That maybe 2x week instead of 3x might bode better for me. I might as well go ahead and change up now… why wait? If it’s a time issue, time isn’t going to wait for me. But until I actually try this, I won’t know if it will work for me. So… might as well dive in.

Wendler’s 5-3-1 2nd edition book has 2 options for 2-days/week. I’m going with a slightly modified option 1. Slightly modified because I’m going to still try to compact the time a wee bit, plus I have to adjust a few things to work for me. So it will look something like this:

• Day 1
  • Squat 5/3/1
  • Chins, superset with squats, every set including warmups (6 set)
  • Bench Press 5/3/1
  • Back Raises, superset with bench warmups 3×15
  • DB Bench Press 3×10
  • Face Pulls 3×12
• Day 2
  • Deadlift 5/3/1
  • Press 5/3/1
  • DB Rows, 3×10 superset with press warmups
  • Hanging Leg Raises 3 sets for up to 10 reps
  • Dips 3 sets for ?? reps
  • DB Hammer Curls 3×10

So this is mostly the same as his option 1, but here’s variations and why.

Supersetting, in an effort to compress workout time a bit. Note that most are done during warmups. My general approach with warmup has been to put the plates on the bar, do the set, change the plates, do the next set — rest is as long as it takes to change plates. Going to try to keep that here: do the set, do the other exercise, change plates, do the set, do the other exercise, change plates, etc..  One exception is chinups. Wendler says 3×10, but I can’t do 3×10 yet. So I’m going to do as many as I can per set and then a lot of sets. Day 2′s superset is a little odd because I couldn’t see what exercises could be done from his recommended list that wouldn’t affect the main lifts, so I just pushed it out a little bit.

Opted for face pulls instead of rear laterals. Similar functionality, and I’d prefer the compound movement to the isolation. I also noticed no ab work listed, so I ditched good mornings in favor of the hanging leg raises.

No idea how many dips I can do, especially after pressing. Wendler says 3×10-15, and I’ll just do 3xhowever many I can do since honestly I’m not sure I can get 10-15.

He said “curls”. I figure the hammers are sufficient and they work well for me.

So you can see, it’s essentially his “option one” but some variation for my needs. I’m honestly not sure how well it will work for me. Part of me feels like it might not be enough work, given how I’ve been working. But then, that may be part of my issue! Could I have been working too much and this will be better? If it winds up not being right, then there’s always “option 2″ which really cranks up the volume. I can always try that later. Hopefully after 3 weeks on “option 1″ I’ll have an idea, and if it seems to be addressing most needs stick with it at least 3 cycles and see how it goes.

But given that, I’m really weak in my geek cred.

I’ve never read J.R.R. Tolkien.

Well, not entirely true. Some years ago I think it was my older sister that bought a copy of The Hobbit for my kids. I realized the shortcoming in my geek world and did set about reading it a few years ago. I’m ashamed I didn’t read it sooner because it was wonderful. And of course, once I had read it, so many things became clearer in my geek world. Tolkien’s influence is vast.

So of course that means I need to read The Lord of the Rings.

But being the tech geek I am, and that I’m enjoying the new Apple TV well…. I opted to buy all 3 LTotR movies.

Watched “Fellowship of the Ring” last night. Going to watch the other two movies today. So… this is all the blog you get for today.

Really enjoyed “Fellowship”, as did the rest of the family. In fact, Oldest is in process of reading The Hobbit, this is all dovetails nicely. I reckon we’ll buy and read the books down the line, because books are usually always better than the movie adaptations.

Anyways… off to be a geek.

And it’s hardly silent….

Biggest news is the schedule for the rest of 2012 is up. Classes have been filling up fairly quickly, so my recommendation to you is to sign up as soon as possible.

Part of the reason I went on the particular program layout was to try to save myself some time, but I’m finding that I’m not saving that much time. Plus I am feeling a little more beat up. And I’m bothered by my lack of shedding my gut, tho I know that’s just how it goes (and that my diet slacked off).

I’ve been thinking about switching to one of Wendler’s 2-day a week programs. It’s even slower gains, but I think that may give me a little more time overall. Just thinking about the greater work schedule that I’m dealing with, what with the new job and all.

I’m also realizing that a pure paleo-style diet isn’t working for me, or I’m failing at doing it right. My body screams for carbs… I’m just not getting the energy I need. Or maybe I was just hitting that transition zone and failed to tough through it. I’ve been reading about carb cycling and that might be what is right for me. So much of diet it trial and error until you find what works. The fear with carb cycling is what it implies for “family eating”, since Wife and Kiddos won’t be doing such a thing. Hrm.

So… don’t know. Just contemplating things so I can keep progressing but make everything work.

Finally… I am happy with my improved commitment to dry fire practice. One of these days I’m going to have some room in my schedule to try IDPA.

I turned 45 this month. In many professions that’s the prime age to be – and in others it’s considered young – but in my line of work, some people think middle-aged coders are old farts. That’s especially true when it comes to startups.

The startup culture is similar to professional sports in that it requires a fleet of fresh-out-of-college kids to trade their lives and their health for the potential of short-term glory.

“Old farts” are often excluded from that culture, not because we’re lousy coders but because we won’t put up with that shit. We have lives, we have families, we have other things that are important to us. We’re not about to sleep at our desks and trade watching our kids grow up for the promise of striking it rich. Especially when the people who really strike it rich aren’t the ones writing code.

So many developers my age have had plenty of chances to ditch coding and move into management, but we’ve stuck with coding because it’s what we love to do. We’d earn more in management, but writing software is in our blood. We wouldn’t stop doing it for anything.

And because of the years we’ve spent creating software, we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, regardless of the language or the platform. Operating systems rise and fall, development tools come and go, but through it all, old farts know how to write solid code.

- Nick Bradbury

 

“Week 1″

• 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 215#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x5x140 (work)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x10x185
• Work Asst. – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with work bench press)
  • 6 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #1A – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10/10/9/9/7 x 135
• Asst. #1B – Face pulls (supersetted with the asst. bench press)
  • 5 x 12 x 65
• Asst. #2 – EZ Bar Curls
  • 3 x 10/9/8 x 50

I’m not totally sure what to make of things. Have I gotten weaker? All my assistance work is at less weight but I’m also getting less reps out of it. But I have ramped up the intensity, with supersetting, a few more excercises and sets, less rest between sets. So I figure it’s all good. Certainly I’m being pushed regardless of what the numbers are.

I noticed my benching was wobbly today. Just didn’t feel stable under the bar. I was trying to work with my foot and leg placement and drive, and think I did more harm than good, but that’s alright… just go back to what I was doing.

In other news… well, I’ll discuss that in another posting.

In the Martin/Zimmerman case, one of the common mantras was that Zimmerman was armed and Martin was unarmed. The media desire in this mantra is to imply that this was all unfair, that Zimmerman was somehow worse because Martin didn’t also have a “dueling pistol”, or some other disparity implied by the gun or lack thereof. That somehow someone without a third-party weapon is somehow defenseless and can’t inflict harm, or enough harm to warrant someone using a gun and using deadly force in reply.

I find this ludicrous, tho not totally without some merit.

First, there seems to be some belief that an unarmed person — that is, a person armed with only their bare hands — cannot inflict damage or cannot kill someone.

You’ve never watched boxing or UFC have you? Or for that matter, just fire up YouTube, because there’s zillions of fight videos on there. Some might be schoolyard beatings captured on someone’s phone camera. Others are closed-circuit footage. There’s lots out there. And once you opt to remove your blinders and see life for what it really is, you’ll see that yes, bare hands can kill.

It happens more than twice a day, on average. Fists and feet were responsible for 745 murders in 2010, or 5.7 percent of all murders that year, according to FBI statistics. (The data on this have been remarkably stable in recent years. In the five preceding years, the percentage of murders perpetrated by fists or feet fluctuated between 5.6 and 6.1.) It doesn’t even take an experienced brawler to punch someone to death: An 11-year-old California girl appears to have killed a classmate with her bare hands in a February fistfight.

So to say that someone being unarmed is not dangerous or potentially at some sort of advantage, that having their fists reigning blows, having their feet stomping heads into pavement… that this couldn’t possibly be a problem? I don’t buy it.

We also need to look at situations. If a woman is being raped and her attacker has only his bare hands, are you going to seriously say that her using a gun to defend herself would be wrong? If an elderly person being kicked and beaten by an attacker used a gun to defend themselves, that’s somehow wrong?

But this is why I said there could be some merit, because it could be a matter of force disparity. A 100# woman being attacked by a 300# man, a 89-year-old person being attacked by a teenager, it’s arguable based upon those physical factors that there’s enough disparity. In a case like Zimmerman and Martin, it seems to be implied that Zimmerman was a big healthy male and Martin was a little wimpy teenager… at least, so were the initial reports, with accompanying photos. But as more details came out, Martin wasn’t exactly a little guy, and just because Zimmerman was in his 30′s doesn’t mean he’s automatically at some advantage. In this particular case the devil’s in the details and has to be worked out in court.

What I wish to stress here is the fallacy that “unarmed” somehow equates to defenseless or without ability to inflict serious harm. That merely because your attacker is “unarmed” that they couldn’t cause you grave harm and put you in fear of your life. Yes, actual instances of death appear to be rare, but possible. But do you really want to be the statistical anomaly? This does not change matters when it comes to self-defense. It’s still a question of being able to go home at night, of being able to maintain your quality of life (e.g. not becoming crippled for the rest of your life), of being put in fear of your life. The attacker being armed or unarmed isn’t as important a question as the danger being presented.

“Week 1″

• 5 reps – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x3x185
  • 1x5x215 (work)
  • 1x5x245
  • 1x7x280
• Asst. #1 – Hyperextensions
  • 5 x 10 x BW
• Asst. #1B – Hanging Leg Raises (superset with hypers)
  • 5 x 8/8/8/5/5 x BW
• Foam Rolling

Well, my back wasn’t unhappy with me, which I’m happy about. As I said on Monday, form really gets minded here, and I was slacking a bit on the last set. Gym owner was watching me and told me that on that last set, on my descent, I’d get the bar past my knees then my back would round… probably me saying “just get the weight back to the floor”. But it’s right and true because I’ll go back to pull the next rep and my lower back isn’t flat and I have to reset it. So, yeah… need to watch the descent and that I don’t round it at the end. Thanx, Andy.

I did opt to NOT do more deadlifts for my assistance work, which I think is wise at this time. Did some hyperextensions instead, which gave my lower back and hamstrings some work, but didn’t kill me. Plus some nice stretch too. Supersetted that with the leg raises, which I’m trying to stop pussing out on.

I don’t think it’s so much that my abs are weak (tho they could be). But moreso I’m not keeping them solid and tight throughout the duration of the movement. It certainly could be weakness, but I won’t know until everything is tight and THEN starts to collapse, y’know? I need to try to watch and analyze for this. I have even thought that I might do some light ab work during my other days, e.g. during triceps pressdowns or biceps curls, just drop to the floor and do 10 crunches or something. We’ll see. I must confess I hate ab work, that keeps me away from it and easy to justify skipping it, and that’ll be the death of me. The right thing to do is to do what you hate until you love it…. *sigh* I know this, it’s just hard to do it. But nothing worth having in life is easy so….

Why haven’t you heard about this? Because the only way this would have been covered by the national media is if the child shot himself or worse (better? ratings, y’know) started shooting up the rest of the students.

But instead, the child followed safety procedures — you know, the ones taught by that evil NRA in their dastardly “Eddie Eagle” program. Stop. Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.

And so, it wasn’t reported. It’s not “newsworthy”.

I applaud the child. I applaud the school for allowing the program to be taught to all students. If all the anti-gunners really cared about saving lives and “won’t someone think of the children”, they’d appreciate such programs for just such a reason. You can hate guns all you want, but the reality is they are around and no ban will ever eliminate them (criminals will always have them). So the best way to keep kids safe is through education… because for some reason we believe education is so vital, yet this seems to be one area where some believe ignorance is preferrable.

*sigh*

I had the pleasure of meeting them last month when they came out to KR Training.

Numerous things in life delayed the write-up about the visit, but Mr. Groundhog just posted his write-up of the day.

And according to this picture…

… there apparently was a moment in class when I was teaching Mrs. G. the “Von Erich Claw”.

A woman was shot by a stray bullet while changing her child’s diaper in her Bastrop County home Saturday morning, police said.

Full story here, (h/t Brian)

This was “accidental” in that it appears there was no intent to harm anyone. But, if the facts of the article are correct, it wasn’t an accident, it was negligence … or ignorance about what a “safe direction” is.

Four men were found shooting on a nearby property and are suspected of firing the errant round that hit Jones, among a few others that hit her home and her husband’s car about 9:20 a.m. Saturday, Dezarn said.

Adel Mandavi, 26, Pouyan Mandavi, 21, Hani Zahrooni, 23, and Mani Zahrooni, 23, all of Austin, have all been charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony and remain in Bastrop County jail Sunday, according to jail records and Dezarn.

“They didn’t have a proper backstop. (They were shooting at) just a clump of trees that had fallen over,” Dezarn said. “They were just kind of blasting away.”

They didn’t have a proper backstop, just shooting at a clump of trees.

Another article covering the story says they were shooting at a “deer box” (or maybe she said “beer box”? I listened to it a few times and couldn’t tell). Either way, cardboard certainly won’t stop a bullet nor will plywood that is commonly used to make deer blinds.

I think it’s time to go back and read this article on “what is a safe direction”.

The key here is where the bullet will come to rest. A clump of trees is not a solid object that can stop a bullet (not like a 15′ high mound of dirt). And it would seem numerous bullets did not come to rest.

Unfortunately the 4 men are now charged with a felony, and they won’t be able to own or shoot a gun again (if convicted). They’re all also pretty young, and the rest of their lives forever altered.

The Rules exist for a reason. While I certainly advocate getting as much education and training as possible, if nothing else please follow the core rules, be they the NRA 3 Rules or Col. Cooper’s 4 Rules. They’re there precisely to prevent situations like this.

“Week 1″

• 5 reps – Press (working max: 145#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x5x95 (work)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x8x125
• Work Asst. – Chin-ups (supersetted with work Press)
  • 6 x 2/2/2/2/2/3 x BW
• Asst. #1A – Press
  • 5 x 10/10/8/8/8/ x 85
• Asst. #1B – Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns (supersetted with Asst #1A)
  • 5 x 10 x 120
• Asst. #2 – Triceps pressdowns (EZ-Bar)
  • 3 x 12 x 55

After my mishap with my lower back last week, I took the rest of the week off. While my back feels better, it’s still not “normal” feeling again. So with reserve I went back to the gym… I need to see what I can do, because sitting around doesn’t do anything useful at this point.

I also am resetting my weights. It’s coincidence that I reset at the same time I have the injury, but it works out and bodes well. I opted to reset just about every weight because well… there’s no harm. Always go a little lighter and it’ll be fine in the long run. Must listen to the wisdom of Wendler, even if my ego doesn’t want to accept it. Because like Henry Rollins said, “200 pounds is always 200 pounds”. Worth listening to.

So I went and did what I did. A little surprised I only got 8 reps with 125, but then I realized 1. I’m supersetting with chins, 2. I was only taking 2 minutes rest in between sets! I need to rest longer during my main lift sets. Silly me. But I figured hey why not, let’s see if I can make my last chins set also a “rep max” thing. Only got 3, but hey, why not. Every bit helps.

I’m then a little surprised how my assistance pressing went, dropping the weight and the reps like I did. But, whatever. It pushed me, and probably because I took enough out of myself during the main sets. I dunno. Whatever.

I will say, my back felt OK. Granted this isn’t deadlift or squat day, but the back is still involved here. I really did watch my form tho… really keeping my torso tight, my butt clenched, breathing well, taking time to move slower if that’s what needs be so there’s no risk of a jerk or movement more sudden than my back would desire. I gotta say, this is a good thing, and maybe, just maybe, this injury is a time to learn. I’ll take that.

Yes, I’m a little nervous about Wednesday’s deadlift session. I just don’t want to risk injuring myself, but there’s no question that if it’s too much I’ll stop. I MIGHT actually only do my deadlift main lift and then do something else for assistance work like bodyweight hyperextensions. Not sure yet… I’ll think it over and see how it goes. I want good pain, not bad pain.

This bodes well.

So I picked up an Apex hard sear and set about installing it.

It’s pretty easy.

First, watch this video made by Randy Lee of Apex:

While that’s for the full-sized M&P, it’s MOSTLY the same. And really, it’s not too hard to do if you have some patience and the right tools. Yes, you need the right tools.

Some differences.

The Shield has a thumb safety, so that mechanism will be part of the mix. I don’t know what it’s like on a full-sized M&P, but on the Shield it does wrap around the sear assembly so it will come out. Because of that and how the trigger bar inserts into it, you will have to do a little finagling to wiggle the assembly out of the frame. Be careful, don’t bend/break your trigger bar! And also be mindful to look at how the bar end inserts into the assembly so you can put it back together correctly.

You will also need to take the safety bar off the assembly, because of how the sear pin works. Taking it off isn’t hard. Don’t force anything. If you look at the assembly you’ll see how the bar can be moved around, dropped down through some slots, and then gently “twisted” off the assembly. Again, there should be NO need to force anything. Just look at the assembly and work slow and easy. You should be able to figure it out.

This is needed because one end of the sear pin has a cap on it, which ends up being under the safety’s thumb bar. Thus why you need to take the safety bar off. But then getting the pin out is easy. And do as Randy says and shows in the video – keep the assembly upright!

When you have the factory sear out, compare it to the Apex sear to see what’s different. It’s so slight, but makes such a big difference.

Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly, and when you try to work the assembly back into the frame, if it’s hard do NOT force it. Chances are you don’t have the end of the trigger bar back and into the assembly all the way. Check that, and once it’s all the way inserted, the assembly should drop into the frame easily. Apart from these few little things, it works like the video.

Again, NOTHING should be forced in any of this procedure. And if you screw up your gun, it’s not my fault. If you don’t know what you’re doing, if you have any doubts, take this to a gunsmith. I assume no responsibility here for you or your stuff.

But now that it’s back together?

Oh my.

It’s a big improvement.

There’s not that hard wall of a trigger break point, and it certainly doesn’t take as much effort to pull. I don’t have a pull weight gauge, but I’d say the improvement was along the lines of what Randy shows in the video (e.g. a 4-5# trigger). It’s still a bit gritty, but it’s certainly more pleasant to use. I am very curious to see what else Apex does in their “Shield Carry Kit” to improve the trigger.

I’m pleased, and can’t wait to try it out at the range.

Here’s the video:

Ben shoots the drill a few times, putting up amazing times on each run. What’s different about each run is he uses different gear and technique. And take note of the final comment he makes.

Gear matters.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, the tools you use can help or hinder you. It’s not just in shooting; in my daily life as an iOS programmer, using Apple’s blessed toolset of Xcode helps me write apps. I’ve seen some people try to use alternative toolsets and they always struggle or have shortcomings. In constructing a house, having a good hammer and proper screwdrivers enables you to better get the job done. Proper tools, and then the best of those tools will help you accomplish the task.

This is why in classes we implore people to get proper guns, ones that fit. Why we want people to get good holsters, good magazine pouches. They will help you shoot better, and yes the crappy stuff you bought at Academy will hinder you. Ben’s video is good demonstration of this because he’s got top skill and the only thing changing is his gear… and it affects his shooting.

To follow up on the “going faster” post tho, check out Ben’s “take 2″ of the FAST drill.

Some people were giving Ben a hard time for not shooting the drill exactly as written. So Ben made this second video, and still put up awesome times. Heck, shooting the drill at 25 yards he shoots it better than most people do at 7 yards.

While there’s a lot of things you can learn from watching Ben’s videos, the one thing I want you to focus on in terms of the “going faster” context is how Ben changes up speed.

Watch Ben’s non-shooting movements. Look at his draw, his reload. Look how fast they are, and look how they are the same speed regardless of the distance he’s shooting at. He’s always fast on these things, not wasting time. But he changes up his speed when required, such as at 25 yards (you have to go slower at longer distances or smaller targets). It’s not one steady acceleration curve from start buzzer to end buzzer, but going at the right speed for the subtask at hand. And notice that while Ben changes up his speeds, he’s still “going faster” but not “going faster” and puts up some amazing times on this drill.

So don’t think that to go fast you always have to go fast. There’s more to it.

The biggest barrier between me and peace is my instinct to analyze why I didn’t, don’t, or might not have it. Stillness silences that instinct.

-Deschene

Maybe it’s not water-into-wine stuff, but each year thousands of adults and children benefit from a state program that turns $48 into a license to hunt on thousands of acres of otherwise private property.

As any hunter can tell you, $48 won’t get much in the way of a hunting lease. And, if you don’t have a lease or a friend with a big ranch, you aren’t doing much hunting.

To help hunters and would-be hunters with this, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began leasing property to open to public dove hunting by a special $48 permit. The impact has been significant: 30,000 people per year take advantage of it.

I need to look into this because it’d be pretty cool. According to the article they’re looking to expand the program to include things like feral hogs or rabbits and squirrels. And according to this flyer, perhaps also deer, pronghorn, and exotics.

Looks like this is a map of available areas.

I do recall something about a drawing system, but the article makes it sound like these are two different programs. I guess I’ll have to call to ask.

I can go check out the economic experiments in Chile or Hong Kong or Puerto Rico, stick a piece of plastic in the wall, and cash will come out. I can give that same piece of plastic to a stranger who doesn’t even speak my language, and he’ll rent me a car for a week. When I get home, Visa or MasterCard will send me the accounting— correct to the penny. That’s capitalism! I just take it for granted.

Government, by contrast, can’t even count votes accurately. Yet whenever there are problems, people turn to government. Despite the central planners’ long record of failure, politicians promise that this time they will “fix” health care, education, the uncertainty of old age, etc., and people believe. Few of us like to think the government that sits atop us, taking credit for everything and taking our money under threat of imprisonment, could really be all that rotten. And look at all the good things around us! What, besides our unique government, could have brought us such plenty?

But it’s not from the $3.8 trillion a year in spending, the 80,000 new pages of regulations a year, or even from democracy that we get such wonderful options as flexible contact lenses, Google, cellphones, increasing life spans, and so much food that even poor people are fat. We get those things from free markets. Government gets credit for good things even when it does little to bring them about.

- John Stossel, “Why We’re Losing” in Reason magazine’s June 2012 issue.

How does the saying go?

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, and I’ll continue re-electing the jackass?

As I read Stossell’s article, I couldn’t help but wonder why people keep turning to government for solutions? It doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, both of those groups do this very thing. They complain about how horrible government is when it comes to X, but then when they want Y they turn to government as if they think it will give it to them. Then Y gets all screwed up, and along comes time for Z and they keep going back for more.

I mean, most people seem to realize if a restaurant sucks and you get crappy service, you don’t go back. I don’t know people who would say “the food sucks, the wait staff was rude, the drinks way overpriced, but I’m making that my regular weekend hangout!”.  But that’s precisely what happens when people keep turning to government to solve their problems.

I just don’t understand that behavior.

But maybe it’s that “definition of insanity” thing… where you keep doing the same thing and expecting different results?

On the flip side, we are surrounded by the successes of free market, of privatization, and yes I think Stossel’s above example of accounting is a perfect demonstration. Not to mention the computer or smartphone you’re reading this on. But I guess he’s right… we just take it for granted and so we don’t really realize what we’ve got.

And so… we’re losing.

Give Stossel’s article a read.